Legacy
by carlgluftgmail.com
Summary: The War Doctor takes a break from his fight with the Toclofane in Doctor Who: Legacy to fulfill a final wish from an old companion. Includes several tie ins and references to C.S. Lewis' "That Hideous Strength".
1. Chapter 1

Legacy

By C. Gerard Luft

Chapter One

An old, bearded man in a worn leather coat sat at the piano bar, gazing at a Carnival mask on the wall. The beautiful, dark haired pianist in an elegant, black evening gown finished her number, and rose from the bench with a bit of a twirl.

"What are you drinking?" asked the woman.

"Sassafras," said the old man as he rubbed the brass rail of the piano bar with the sleeve of his coat. "Terrible oxidation…"

"I didn't know we served sassafras."

"You don't. I brought my own, " said the old man as he pulled an apple from his coat pocket and bit into it. "I'm looking for a Joan Smith. "

"I'm Joan Smith, " she said a bit awkwardly.

"I have something for you that belonged to your mother. "

"I'm an orphan, " Joan said defensively. "I don't need any controversies here. I'm trying to build my career as a pianist. I don't need any trouble. "

"Damn juveniles!" said the old man as he rose from his stool and nearly fell. His lined face was creased in pain.

"Are you alright?" asked Joan.

"I sprained my ankle in my last battle, " he said. "Won't you please hear me out?"

"Fine! Met me at the door. "


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Joan found the old man at the door leading to Kensington High Street. He was picking at the wallpaper near the door.

"Are you alright?" asked Joan.

"Entropy, " he muttered. "It's gotten worse lately with all the paradoxes."

They stepped outside and were hit by the smell of chips frying from the McDonald's next door.

The old man pulled out a notebook, flipped through it, and said, "I have something for you from your mother. She wanted you to have it if you were ever in danger. "

"I don't have a mother, " said Joan stiffly.

"Yes, you do. She was an old companion of mine. There was a war. She entrusted you to me to keep you safe, keep you secret. I took you to the Sisters…"

"Who are you?" demanded Joan. "Don't tell me. You're my deadbeat father. "

"No," chuckled the old man. "And your father was no deadbeat. Don't you have any curiosity about your family?"

"Not even if I was stranded alone with them on a desert island. I've got a marathon to run Sunday. If you'll excuse me…"

"I'm sorry, Joan, " said the old man pulling a silver wand from his pocket. A red light lit up on its tip, it let out an electric whine, and the image of Kensington High Street swapped out for a strange scene.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

The two appeared in a small alcove off of a large, circular room. The walls were aglow with a series of sunken lights, and rough stone pillars arched overhead to the heights above. A raised dais housed what looked like a control panel, although the controls appeared to be patched up and cobbled together from scavenged components made to fit. Nests of cables drooped from the ceiling.

"Where am I?" asked Joan.

"My ship, " said the old man as he sat on the edge of the dais, took off his boot, and massaged his ankle.

"This isn't a sailing ship, is it?"

"It's a time ship. We got here by a teleporter I installed. I keep the Ship in a temporal orbit. Best not to take it into battle. I try to keep it hidden from the Enemy."

Looking at a microscope on the panel, Joan asked, "Is this a lab? Are you some kind of scientist?"

"I was once every kind of scientist. Now, I'm just a warrior. My place is in the trenches. Put your telephone away. I don't think your mobile will get any coverage here. I suppose I need to prove to you all that I'm saying is true. "


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

"Found it!" declared the old man as he looked up from a small computer screen on the control panel. He hit the panel with a hammer, and threw some switches. He dashed to the teleport alcove, beckoning Joan to join him.

"Where are you taking me now?" asked Joan.

"Into battle! Don't worry. You're with me, so that makes it the safest place on your planet right now. Oh, I forgot! Take this. "

The old man handed her a dagger from his coat pocket. "It was your mother's. She wanted you to have it. Please, try not to use it. "

With a flash, they appeared in a cathedral. The sound of the chapter singing matins echoed about.

"This is Our Lady of Victories, " said Joan holding the dagger.

A spiked, metal sphere flew at them, shouting in a voice like a deranged parakeet, "Behold your destiny, and despair!"

A beam of energy shot fom it, nearly hitting Joan. The statue behind her was reduced to ash. Instantly, it flew up, crashing through a stained glass window.

"On its heels!" cried the old man. "It mustn't escape. "

"What's controlling it?" asked Joan as she hitched up her skirt and ran after the old man.

"A Macrobe," he explained as he ran to the cathedral doors. "In your parlance, a demon!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

"We lost it, " said Joan as she picked at her chips outside of the McDonald's on Kensington High Street. The old man finished his chips, pulled a paper bag of sweets from his pocket, and offered one to Joan.

"No, thank you, " said Joan. "I should have had a salad instead. My legs hurt! How do you do it at your age?"

"I thought you run marathons?' chuckled the old man as he stared up at the full moon.

"Not in an evening gown and heels. I need a pair of rollerskates to keep up with you. What's your name, by the way?"

"You can call me John, John Smith. That's all I go by these days. "

"And I'm Joan Smith. Odd coincidence?"

"Your mother named you after me. "

"Your name is really John Smith?"

"Of course not. But it's a good alias when amoung the English speaking people of earth."

"You're from another planet?"

"So was your mother."

"I'm not human?'

"You're human on your mother's side."

Their conversation was cut short as as automobile down the street erupted in fire.

"I assume that's our quarry, " said John as he drew his wand. "I promised your mother I I'd keep you safe, so stay close to me. It's my career to keep people safe."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

A bolt of electricity shot forth from John's wand hitting the sphere that floated above the burning automobile. It sparked, and fell to the ground next to the inferno. John sprinted up to it, embraced it in his arms, and ran off. "We haven't much time!"

He led Joan down an outside staircase to the door of a basement flat. Beneath the window, John crouched down and examined the sphere.

"Your wand shoots lightning?" asked Joan.

"It's not a wand, " snapped John, "it's a sophisticated, scientific device. I could have burnt it out doing that. It's not designed for such a discharge, but I had to capture it. "

He waved his wand over the sphere. It opened up, and inside, amidst a net of wires, was a withered looking head. The top of its skull was an enormous dome. It looked like its head was too small for it's brain.

"It's an alien!" gasped Joan.

John ignored her, and adjusted the red dial on the wand's base.

"What's going on out here?" demanded a weary looking housewife, shouting over the barking of her dog. No sooner had she stepped outside, Joan, John, and the sphere disappeared into thin air. She shook her head as if to clear it, went back in side, and resumed watching a moon landing documentary.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

The head gibbered and drooled as the old man wired the sphere into the control panel of his time ship. A nest of tubes rose and fell in the panel's center. Blood began to form around the head's mouth looking like smeared lipstick. The room was jostled around, and Joan desperately hung on to the panel till her knuckles turned white.

"You're killing it," asserted Joan as the skin on the head's withered face turned white.

"I'm using its cybernetic system to track down their base of operations, " said the old man working the motley controls on the panel.

"Where are we going?" asked Joan.

"It looks like a space station, a distribution center or habitat module by the looks of it. It's the year twenty-seven, no, twenty-five sixty-three. Entering temporal orbit, and teleporting over."

In a flash, the world around Joan transformed into what looked like a television studio. A talk show host was interviewing a man with a horse.

"Space station?" asked Joan. "Really?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

"This is an indoor amusement park," said Joan as she munched on a snickerdoodle cookie John procured from a vending machine with the wave of his wand.

"Yes, it is," said John, "on a space station."

"Yeah, right, " said Joan as she watched a dinosaur beneath a massive, glass dome near the Ferris wheel. "That looks real."

"It is real. Genetic reviving has exceeded anything your scientists could have dreamed of in your century."

With a loud shattering noise, the T-Rex broke out of its glass prison. It toppled over the Ferris wheel, and charged in the direction of Joan and John.

"Looks like those scientists should have put more effort into making stronger glass instead," said Joan.

"An accurate assumption, " said John add he took Joan's hand. "Run!"

"Is that a door?" asked Joan as they neared a disk set on a bulkhead. "It can't fit through that."

"Sharp eyes!" cried John in delight. He leveled his wand at the panel which split open, revealing a narrow tunnel beyond. He hurried Joan into it, and shouted at several panicked people nearby to join them in their escape.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The two time travelers and the refugees from the amusement park ran into an area that looked identical to a market from Joan's time. Beneath a sign marked "Butcher", a man was carving a pot roast. At a nearby kiosk, a woman was decorating a cake

As John set to work at a nearby computer monitor, Joan asked, "I demand to know what's going on? What is that head? Is it an alien? Did it set loose that dinosaur? And what are you doing?"

With a sigh, John submitted to Joan's demands, and said, "I suppose I'll never be free from your verbal abuse until I answer your questions. How like your mother! No doubt, the Enemy arranged the destruction of the dinosaur's dome to distract us. The Head isn't alien. It's human. After Work War II, a group of amoral scientists tried to use severed human heads, kept alive artificially, to chanel creatures of enormous power and dimensionality called Macrobes. You'll find these channeled extra-dimensional beings the source of your people's tales about demons. I thwarted them then, but, obviously, the work of the Institute survived. And right now, I'm trying to access this stations library computer. So if you'll excuse me…"

"How did you defeat them?"

"I don't recall. A bit if amnesia on my part. Odd sensation. I used to get it all the time in a previous life. And my confrontation with the Institute happened several lifetimes ago. If I could remember, we'd probably have this nasty business done and finished by now."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"Can I help you?" Asked Joan as she watched John wave his wand over the computer screen.

"Damn it!* Shouted John as he slammed his fist onto the computer.

Joan jumped back in surprise, and asked, "Can't I help? What are you looking for? I'm pretty good with computers. I'm just trying to contribute to your mission."

John turned to her, and instantly the fierce look on his face melted away, and he smiled warmly at Joan. "I just need more time. Butcher, have you anything precooked?"

The butcher shrugged his shoulders, and pulled a roasted bird out of a nearby refrigerator. "Five credits, please."

John wanted his wand over the credit scanner, handed Joan the tray, and said, "Eat! You need to strengthen yourself. We've got quite a bit of running still to do. Running is a requirement when your with me."

As Joan picked at the bird, wondering if it was chicken, John turned back to the computer. No sooner had she taken a few bites, John cried, "Got it!"

He grabbed he have in an iron strong grip, and led her toward a hatch marked "Pier 3". She could hear the mad voices of several Heads from the wand he held towards his ear.

"I used to love being scared," she muttered. "Halloween was my favorite holiday. Not anymore."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Is this a spaceship?" Asked Joan as they followed the queue towards a yellow uniformed steward. "I'm a passenger in a real spaceship. How cool is that!"

As John waved his wand over the steward's tablet, he looked up, and asked, " Mrs. Smith?"

"It's Miss Smith," John said correcting the nosy steward.

"May I ask your relationship?"

"For God's sake! I'm her baptismal sponsor."

"You're my godfather?" Asked Joan. "Oh my God, I have a fairy godfather!"

"The Sisters insisted that you be baptized when I took you to the orphanage."

"I'll make certain you have neighboring cabins, sir," said the steward. "Now, if you would be willing to wait in the lounge as we prepare your cabins, it's right down the stairway."

The disdainful look John shot the steward wipef the pretentious smile off of his face.

In a corner booth of the lounge, as they waited for their tea to brew, John was fiddling with his wand. Adjusting the red dial on it's base, and holding it up to his ear, John's face turned pale.

"What's wrong?" Asked Joan.

"There are at least a hundred Heads aboard this craft", said John, his voice even more raspy than usual.

"What are we going to do?"

"Destroy the ship!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"That's murder!" Cried Joan. "There are human beings on this ship."

"Keep it down!" Hissed John. "There are humans in those spheres. Human heads! If we don't stop them, there will be more of them. It would take an act of Galactic Congress to stop and quartenteen this ship, so we…"

"You snake!" Sorry Joan. "You're not human."

John calmly put a spoonful of sugar in his tea, and was spreading jam on a scone when he looked up, and said, "No, I'm not human. Just like your father. Just like half of you. Do you think I want Innocents to die? What am I to do? Let the Enemy win?

"If I learned anything from that Carpenter Whose name you had me baptized in, is that defeats will turn into victories if we do the what's right."

"I admire your faith. But there is only a hundred of them right now. If they get to Earth…"

"Then we'll have more room to fight them. More room means less collateral casualties. Right, Warrior? So, what are you going to do?"

"Order some steak and kidney pie," laughed John. "We're going to need our strength if we are going to fight a traditional battle."

Joan turned green at the thought of kidneys in a pie. "Thanks for making the human choice, Godfather. You're not bad for an alien."


End file.
